Jerry Kramer: Finally a Hall of Famer

Perhaps even more than blocking, Jerry Kramer is known for his stories. The legendary Packers guard, now 82, is sitting in his downtown Minneapolis hotel room telling his latest.

“We hear that the [personal Hall of Fame announcements] will be at 3:30 or 4:00,” he says. “ And it’s now 3:30 and they say, ‘Uh, we’re going to be a little late.’ So we wait until 3:45. Then 3:50. Then 3:56. 3:57. 3:58. We’ve checked our watches 18,000 times. Finally, at about 4:00, the door is knocked upon. This is it. YEAH! We’re all hootin’ and hollerin’. We go to the door, and it’s the maid.

“She’s from another country and has no idea what the hell we’re doing—a deer in the headlights kind of look. So we sit back in the room and wait. It’s five after 4, then 10 after 4 and we’re starting to lose the air in the room. We’d been giggling and laughing, everybody had been chatting, then all the sudden it starts to get quiet. It’s one of those ominous quiets. It lasts about five minutes and then we hear this BOOM BOOM BOOM on the door. There’s no question about [Hall of Fame President David] Baker’s knock. He is loud and clear. So we go answer the door and there’s Baker, this 6’8”, 340-pound giant, standing there, and he is the most beautiful man I’ve ever seen.”